Door systems with welded steel door frames are widely used in numerous commercial, municipal, industrial, hospitality, retail and other building applications. Steel door frames are used both to frame interior openings (e.g., office, classroom, bathroom, etc. openings) and exterior openings (e.g., entry and exit openings). Steel door frames and their doors may be manufactured from cold rolled steel (CRS), galvanized steel, or galvannealed steel, for example. These doors and frames are valued for their strength, long service life, and one-piece finished appearance.
Once installed, both exterior and interior steel door frames may be susceptible to damage. For example, a steel door frame may become corroded. The exterior surfaces of a steel door frame are usually provided with a finish coat of primer or paint, helping to protect the exterior surfaces from weather, corrosive chemicals used to clean areas around the frame (e.g., cleaners in a hospital), and other environmental conditions (e.g., humidity or salt). If the interior surfaces of the steel door frame are coated with primer or paint, the same level of protection is afforded those surfaces as the exterior surfaces. Often, however, these interior surfaces may only be coated with primer, if at all.
Therefore, in the presence of moisture inside the steel door frame, many steel door frames are susceptible to corrosion from the inside out. This moisture may be present in the form of atmospheric humidity, water from cleaning, or leaks in a building structure, for example. Because the interior surfaces of the door frame are enclosed, the moisture may take a prolonged time to dissipate, exposing the interior surfaces to moisture for a long period of time. This enclosed condition may be further aggravated in buildings where a concrete or block wall is built adjacent to the steel door frame. In these applications, the steel door frame is often “slushed” (i.e., filled with masonry mix). While this provides for a robust installation of the steel door frame, the masonry mix can hold moisture within its porous structure, and thus, the moisture may in turn be placed in direct contact with the steel door frame for a prolonged period of time. This provides a humidity rich environment for corrosion to begin.
Steel door frames are also susceptible to other types of damage. For example, a steel door frame may suffer damage in a forced entry event, typically in the section of the steel door frame containing its strike. Certain steel door frames may also be damaged as the result of design or construction errors. For instance, when necessary reinforcements are inadvertently left out of critical sections of the steel door frame (e.g., at the section of the steel door frame where the door closer is mounted), those sections may become weakened and vulnerable to early failure.
Irrespective of the cause of damage, when damage to a steel door frame is identified, and a determination is made that the door frame requires repair, the usual solution is to completely remove the steel door frame and replace it with a new one. This is an inefficient and costly solution to a common problem and is therefore undesirable in the building industry. Thus, it would be desirable to provide an apparatus and method to repair a steel door frame without having to replace the entire steel door frame.